


Into Shadows

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Sith Ascendant [4]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-02-23 04:40:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2534534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the confrontation on Brentaal IV, events begin to escalate, and more than one path leads into darkness - and they might not lead back out again. There are those who fall, and those who jump in feet first with eyes open, those who walk away and those who look for the thickest part of the action. All against the backdrop of a galaxy in turmoil.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Anakin: Isolation

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings, rating, and other tags are likely to change as chapters are posted. Chapter warnings will be included in notes at the beginning of each one, as needed.

_Republic Date 974:9:3  
Fifteen days after the Brentaal IV Incident_

Anakin shivers, trying to huddle in his cloak as he's tugged down the ramp of the shuttle into icy cold. He's not sure what the Sith have in mind, but at least he's been able to spend the trip with Obi-Wan, no matter they've spent it crammed into a bunk that wasn't meant to hold two people.

The younger Sith pats him on the arm, smiling cheerfully - disturbingly so, considering they seem to have found something rather like one of Anakin's personal visions of hell. "It's not so terrible as it looks, Jedi."

"I have a name, you know."

"No, I don't." The Sith rolls her eyes, pushing him toward what looks like one of many snow drifts. "And I don't care."

"I'm Anakin." He doesn't know if it will matter if he talks, but right now, he doesn't want to keep being called Jedi or apprentice. They're what he is, not who he is. "Do the Sith have names?"

"Of course." She smiles again, before pushing him toward the tallest part of the drift, and Anakin flinches against anticipated cold.

He's not expecting to stumble into a hallway that feels as icy as the weather outside, nor the niggling unease that the place seems to evoke. At least he manages not to fall over completely, because he's not interested in the sort of embarrassment that would cause.

"Master found this while he left me to hunt Jedi." The Sith apprentice grabs him by the arm again, tugging him deeper into wherever they are. She slides a look at him, amber eyes seeming to glow in the poorly lit hallway. "It will be your home for now, Jedi apprentice."

"I'd rather go back to Tatooine." Anakin would most like to return to Coruscant, but that doesn't seem to be an option, unless Obi-Wan can figure out how to get the damned collars off, or he can reach the Force despite it. He hasn't had much luck on either, himself.

The Sith snorts, pushing him through a door that opens ahead of them, and into a room that's sparsely furnished. "Your home, Jedi."

"What about my Master?" Anakin turns to face the Sith. "There's only one bed in here."

All he gets for his trouble is a bright, vicious smile, and the door shut in his face. Apparently he's all alone here, and Anakin shivers again, wrapping his cloak more tightly around him.

* * *

He's not sure how long he's left alone before the door opens again. Long enough to find he can't open it himself, discover an alcove with a sink and toilet, and start searching the collar for a catch once more, but how long that actually mean is escaping him. This time it only reveals a droid that looks a lot like C-3PO in gold.

It has a tray in hand, with a steaming bowl and a glass beaded with moisture on it, but it doesn't step through the door, merely watching him. When he doesn't move either, not trusting the Sith to have left him alone with just a droid to keep him in the room, it makes an exasperated noise.

"Are all younglings intent on neglecting their needs in favor of moping after those absent?" The words make him wonder what the droid is referring to - he's never heard anything about a Sith actually caring enough about another to set someone to taking care of them. Of course, he's never heard much about the Sith, beyond them being the enemies of the Jedi.

"Are you going to bring that in, or am I supposed to trust I can take it from you?" Anakin pauses. "And I have a name. Anakin Skywalker." Since the Sith apprentice clearly hadn't mentioned it to her Master, nor to the droid.

The droid makes another exasperated noise, and Anakin has the distinct impression it's glaring at him despite its rigidity of expression. "I am not allowed into your quarters, Lord Skywalker, without your permission, as well as my Master's. I am only to bring you meals, and to see to your laundry."

"I'm a Jedi Padawan, not a Sith Lord." Anakin flinches at the title, though he knows the droid has probably been programmed to use it. "I'm surprised your Master even cared if I wanted you in here."

"As you say, Lord Skywalker." The droid doesn't respond to his snipe, merely holding out the tray. "Your dinner is getting cold, and I'm reliably informed it tastes awful if allowed to do so."

Eating will at least allow him to keep trying to find a way out, and after a moment, Anakin goes to take the tray. The door slams shut as soon as his hand and the droid's are clear, leaving Anakin glaring at it for a long moment.

* * *

"Where is my Master?" Anakin stays in the middle of the room, with the tray out of reach of the droid when it returns. He's figured out the dimensions of the room, and managed to sleep some since the last time, though he's still frustrated by being unable to tell how much time is passing.

"Lord Kenobi is not present, Lord Skywalker." The droid stays just on the other side of the door, precisely where it was last time. "I do not know where he is."

"Would you even be allowed to tell me, if you did?" Anakin tries to pretend he isn't afraid, knowing that Obi-Wan isn't in the facility, and maybe not on the planet. He hasn't been able to feel his Master through their bond since his disastrous fight with the Sith apprentice on Brentaal IV, but he'd preferred to imagine that Obi-Wan was close by. Preferred to think he might not have to rescue himself entirely.

"My Master has not ordered me to keep that information secret from you, Lord Skywalker." The droid watches him a moment before it holds out the pile of folded clothing its carrying, every article of it black as space. "I will need your laundry and your used eating vessels, Lord Skywalker."

Anakin stares at the robes for a long moment before shaking his head. He's come to like the darker color choices in his Jedi robes, but he's shied away from true black in favor of browns and grays. "I can't wear those."

"I would not recommend going naked, Lord Skywalker. The weather of this planet is inimical to beings who are not possessed of thick fur or heavy cold-weather gear."

"It's warm enough in here." Anakin crosses his arms, shaking his head and refusing to take the clothing - Sith robes, probably, considering, and not just black civvies. He wants them even less at that thought. "And my robes don't need to be cleaned yet."

"Master has left instructions that if you refuse to have your robes laundered, or to bathe, I am to allow Lady Eea to do anything she desires."

At least he has a name for one of the Sith now, though why exactly he's being threatened with her mercies if he doesn't bathe, he's not sure. Unless she intends to spar with him or something, and that he doesn't find a deterrent, but an incentive to catch her attention. He wants a chance to fight her again, and to win this time.

"Why should I care?" Anakin takes a step backward, making it even more obvious he wants nothing to do with the robes the droid is offering him.

The droid draws back a little itself, not answering for a long moment. "She does not approve of the smell of unwashed sentients, Lord Skywalker, and will ensure those in her company are not allowed to remain so by whatever means necessary."

"So?" The idea of the Sith apprentice trying to force him into a bath, even using the Force, is something that Anakin doesn't see how she could manage.

"I would prefer not to have to monitor your recovery from any injury incurred during her efforts to impress on you the need for regular personal care, Lord Skywalker."

"Why? You're a Sith's droid."

The droid watches him for a long moment, before the door closes again, without Anakin's question being answered. He huffs, and goes to sit on the edge of the bed. This is getting annoying.


	2. Obi-Wan: Provocation

_Republic Date 974:9:4  
Hydian Way, coreward of Listehol, rimward of Telos_

Eea sprawls on one of the seats that would be for passengers if the Scimitar had been a typical shuttle, watching Kenobi as he meditates in the middle of the space behind the cock-pit - or at least tries to. He hasn't done anything else since they left his apprentice in the care of C-3PX, safely out of reach of any Jedi - and where he'll be dead before anyone can get to him if someone tries to effect a rescue.

"I'm not going to do anything while we're in hyperspace, little Sith." Kenobi doesn't open his eyes, though his lips twitch slightly, as if he's trying not to smile. "Unless you're willing to give me my lightsaber."

Eea snorts. "No. I think I'll keep it." Along with the one from Kenobi's apprentice, giving her a set to use which will sow confusion as to her true nature. It will be fun, to watch the fear of the Jedi grow - and to feed it by using Kenobi to help kill further their plans. "You can use one of mine when we're on the ground, if my Master wishes it."

"I thought the idea was to make me suffer, not to get me killed the first time we run into a Jedi who hasn't met me."

Rolling her eyes, Eea glances toward the pilot's seat, where her Master is sitting with his back to them. Listening, she's certain, from the amusement threading through their bond, but letting her poke and prod at Kenobi as she wants.

"I haven't had bait on most of my hunts before. Do you really think you'll do any good in that role?" Eea tilts her head to one side, smiling cheerfully even though Kenobi doesn't open his eyes to see. "It will be all the better if they're Jedi you already know."

That makes Kenobi open his eyes, and lunge at her. Eea laughs, pushing him away with the Force as she sits up more. He almost looks pretty, with the fury in his eyes, but it's gone too quickly, shoved down as ruthlessly as she has struck down Jedi. Not gone, as she can still feel the echoes of it in the Force, but shunted aside and locked away.

"Giving up so quickly, Kenobi?" She tilts her chin down, watching him through her lashes as she smiles, all glee and malice. He smiles back, a knife-edge flash of bared teeth, and Eea chuckles, pushing out of her seat as he moves toward her again.

"I won't let you kill any more Jedi." Kenobi seems far more confident in his ability than circumstances warranted, but the Jedi always thought themselves better. Thought they would prevail over her simply because they were obedient servants of their Order, serving the greater good and not their own desires.

"You haven't managed to stop me before, how do you think you'll stop me now?" She rolls up on her toes, wishing there was more space to actually fight, but they won't have that until they land.

"I'm not half a day behind you this time, or chasing you across the galaxy." Kenobi circles her, his gaze locked with hers, though she's sure his attention is more on the lightsabers at her belt. "It makes the job a little easier."

"Even if the Jedi still die?" Eea grins, moving in counterpoint to Kenobi to keep the lightsabers out of easy reach.

"It would be hard to kill them if you're busy defending yourself." Kenobi lunges, and Eea twists aside, smacking his hand away with the Force when he reaches for the lightsaber nearest him.

"Kill me or my Master, and your apprentice dies before you can return to rescue him." Eea dances backward out of reach as Kenobi spins, a snarl on his face that is equal parts rage and fear. "Even if one of your precious Jedi does the killing for you."

"Not if I take you both and this ship with me." Kenobi clenches one hand, before opening it again, lunging for her Master instead of her. Eea narrows her eyes, snarling, but obeys the warning that comes down the bond and doesn't move.

Watching instead as Kenobi flies back to slam into the wall hard enough for Eea to hear bones crack. He drops to the floor after, curling up as he gasps for breath.

"My apprentice might be content to play, Kenobi." Her Master turns the pilot's seat to face the lounge, watching Kenobi as the Jedi slowly sits up and wraps his arms gingerly around his ribs.

"But you're not." Kenobi snorts, than winces at the pain that had to send through his cracked ribs. "I wasn't playing either."

* * *

Obi-Wan doesn't have much time to spend trying to meditate - slip into a healing trance, if he's being honest with himself, no matter that he can't reach the Force - between limping away from the Sith and the shuttle dropping out of hyperspace. It's a fast ship, but even so, he doesn't think they've gone terribly far if they're already leaving hyperspace. He's curious what they have planned, even as he's dreading finding out, if only because nothing has gone as he'd expected since meeting them again on Brentaal.

After all, he's still alive, in one piece, and as far as he knows, so is Anakin. Why they're still living, he's not at all certain yet. He suspects he will have at least some idea once the purpose of their exit from hyperspace is revealed. He keeps his eyes shut, listening to the engines as they move through space. There is a difference in the faint vibration of the deck under him as they transition to atmosphere, which means a planet.

Which one, though, is a question he doesn't have any means of answering until they land, much to his frustration. If he'd been able to reach the Force - he takes a deep breath, trying again despite the futility of it. It doesn't feel quite the same as he's always expected a Force-inhibitor to feel, though. Not as if he's utterly cut off, but as if the Force is just out of reach, and if he tries hard enough, he'll be able to grasp it again.

He hears the whine of the turbolift as the sound of the engines changes again, and opens his eyes so he won't be taken by surprise by the Sith. It's the apprentice who steps out of the lift, the same cheerful, almost manic smile on her face as she had worn earlier. It doesn't quite seem to fit her amber eyes or the tattoos that match her master's, lending her a strange sort of innocence that he can't trust.

"My Master wishes you to be silent during the meeting, and to remain with me in the background." The girl looks over his robes a moment before shrugging, and all but bouncing over to one of the storage spaces that line the one side of the bay. It seems to serve as a closet for both of the Sith, if one that is a predictably dark monochrome.

"Do I get to know where we are?" He doesn't intend to remain silent as he's told, no matter what threats the Sith bring to bear. If only to see what they'll do to attempt to control him, since the threat to Anakin will only work once - and afterward, he won't have any reason not to kill them both, by whatever means he can.

"Telos. Master said it was an ideal location for the meeting." The apprentice smiles over her shoulder, glee lighting her eyes when she looks at him - sees how he's paled, his face chill. "Is something the matter, Jedi?"

"No." Obi-Wan draws in a breath, pushing away the flashes of memory - the anger that had made the air seem thicker than the fumes, the hate that rolled off Xanatos in waves, the way his Master had all but shut himself off - and drawing tattered calm about him like his cloak. There are worse places the Sith could have chosen, though how he might have learned that Telos is one place Obi-Wan would prefer to avoid if possible, he doesn't know.

The girl giggles, grinning brightly at him as she settles her cloak over her shoulders. "Liar. It's all right, Jedi. Keep your secrets." She pauses, tilting her head to one side a moment. "For now."

Obi-Wan snorts, raising an eyebrow at the certainty of the last two words. He doesn't like the idea of the Sith learning all about him - and rather fears they know too much already.

Under his feet, the faint vibration of the decking ceases, and Obi-Wan shifts so he can keep the apprentice in his line of sight while still watching the turbolift. The Sith joins them in short order, taking the cloak his apprentice offers him before glancing at Obi-Wan.

"My second cloak should fit you well enough, Kenobi." The Sith smile briefly, as his apprentice turns back to the closet, pulling out another black cloak that matches their own. "Wear it."

"Or you'll do what?" Obi-Wan crosses his arms, not willing to trade his serviceable brown cloak for the black one being pushed on him.

The sharp, amused smile the Sith gives him is worrying. "I will do nothing."

"Your apprentice?"

"Will do what I tell her." The Sith continues to watch him, waiting patiently for him to make his decision.

Obi-Wan stares back for a long moment, before shaking his head again. He's not wearing the black cloak - and if they try to push the black Sith robes on him, he'll find a way to refuse them as well. He'll find a way to rescue himself and get to Anakin in time before he has to replace his tunics and leggings. He hopes.

The Sith chuckles, and his apprentice wrinkles her nose before returning the cloak to its place. He turns away, opening the hatch, leaving the shuttle without looking back - and for a moment, Obi-Wan is tempted to just not move from where he's standing. A rough Force-tug makes him grimace, pulling his hood up as he follows in the wake of the Sith, trying again to reach for the Force even as it slides away from him.


	3. Anakin: Descent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course, half of the cause of his greater freedom, Anakin thinks, is he did manage to break his foot. Sheer boredom is not a reason to start kicking walls that are probably constructed from durasteel, no matter what's paneled over them.

_Republic Date 975:3:12  
Four months, nine days into captivity_

He's convinced the droid to let him have the run of the corridor and the rooms on it, at least. Nearly two hundred days to convince it, he thinks, but it's better than counting the paces of his room, or trying to break the collar, the bed, the sink, or the walls. Again. Of course, half of the cause of his greater freedom, Anakin thinks, is he did manage to break his foot. Sheer boredom is not a reason to start kicking walls that are probably constructed from durasteel, no matter what's paneled over them.

Leaning against the wall, Anakin prods at the controls of a door, trying to get it to open. It's not the one at the end of the corridor, so he's pretty sure the droid won't shoot him in his good foot for trying to open it. Healing while not being able to do anything but stare at the utterly blank ceiling would be worse than having to hobble around on a broken foot.

"This would be easier if I had tools." His voice still seems muffled out here as it had been in his room, and Anakin wonders if its just the way this place was made, or if it's the weirdness of the place. It still makes him uneasy, though maybe that's the disturbing dreams he's had since he managed to sleep some. A little. Not as much as he probably should.

Anakin shakes his head, before reaching up one hand to push his hair back. It had been getting in need of a trim before they'd gone to Brentaal IV, and he's not been given anything he can use to cut it. He still can keep the Padawan braid taken care of, even if he has to use his fingers to comb it, though.

Glaring at the door controls, he tries to focus again, feeling around the edge of the panel for a loose edge he can pry up, and reach the innards. There are two other doors he can try this with, too, if he can't get this one open. Enough to keep him occupied until his foot heals, maybe.

He looks up when he hears a door hiss open, watching the droid as it watches him for a long moment before stepping into the hallway. It has a tray of food again, which means none of the three rooms other than his own here are a kitchen. Probably. He kinda hopes one of them is the laundry, though, and he can find his old robes, instead of the unrelieved black of the clothes he's had to wear since he'd had to let his robes be taken for cleaning.

"How do you open these doors, anyway?" Anakin knows he should take a break to eat his dinner, but right now, he's too frustrated and bored to want to eat at all. Even if it does mean another thirteen hours - he thinks it's thirteen hours, but in the constant artificial light, with his only time-reference the meals, he doesn't really know - before there's anything edible brought to him again.

"My Master or Lady Eea do so. I am not privy to the codes or means by which they do so." The droid stays just inside the door to the hallway, still watching him. "I only have the authority to open your door and those which divide the modules of this facility."

Anakin shifts, leaning against the door, wondering how long it will take - and what sort of injury he might have to sustain - to convince the droid to give him access to another module of the base. There has to be something interesting here that will give him a way out.

He sighs, and limps over to take the tray. He hopes Obi-Wan can break free and rescue him soon. Or someone else figures out where he is. Or this is going to be a very long, very boring stay.

* * *

_Republic Date 975:4:29  
Five months, twenty-six days into captivity_

There is nothing but another empty room behind the door, that looks practically identical to his own. Anakin slumps against the frame, glaring half-heartedly at the bare bed, and the curve of wall he knows hides a sink and toilet. The only thing that was worth breaking into here for was figuring out the mechanics of doing so - and he's not sure about that. Obi-Wan would probably not approve of trying to blast the damn thing with the Force out of sheer frustration.

Although, at least he managed to _reach_ the Force past the damned inhibitor. It's the first good thing that's happened since he was locked in here. And if blasting the controls with the Force worked on one panel, maybe it will work on others.

Pushing away from the empty room, Anakin limps toward the door the droid has come through from wherever it goes with the meal trays and his laundry. He doesn't know how big the base is, or how much he'll manage to explore before the droid is programmed to kill him.

Attempt to kill him? Maybe. Anakin wonders if he can find enough of a work-around with prodding controls to reach enough power to blast the droid. Or at least deflect blaster shots. That might be enough to keep him alive if he goes further than the Sith want him to.

Looking at the panel for a long moment, Anakin reaches out to that thin thread of Force, scowling when it seems out of reach. Taking a deep breath, he summons up the frustration that had let him reach it before, though it feels thinner than before as he channels it into a Force-push at the panel. Nothing happens, and he slams his hand against the controls, groaning. There has to be a way to get _out_.

* * *

_Republic Date 975:5:13  
Six months, ten days into captivity_

The panels for the rooms are good practice, figuring out what lets him access the Force despite the inhibitor, no matter how slim a trickle he gets. Fear and anger both work better than anything else, and though he remembers Master Yoda's words about those emotions leading to the Dark Side, right now, Anakin isn't sure he cares. Avoiding the Dark Side isn't going to get him out of here, and if he doesn't escape on his own, it isn't going to matter anyway.

He's not actually sure it will make a difference, anyway, since the Sith have Obi-Wan, and the collar has no visible catch. Probably they all think he and Obi-Wan are dead, and aren't looking for them anyway. They should have come already if they were. Or if they'd found Obi-Wan, and gotten him free of the Sith.

Anakin leans his head against the wall, still for a moment before he thumps his head against it. And maybe Obi-Wan's dead - the bond is silent as the grave, though it doesn't really feel like it's been severed - or insane, or dead. Help isn't going to come from him, either. Anakin has only himself, the same way he'd grown up. Well, worse, really, because he doesn't even have his mom.

"As soon as I get out of here, I'm going to find you, and then I'm going to break my Master free, and we'll destroy you, and we can go home, and Master Yoda can yell at me all he likes." Anakin clings to the anger the idea of Obi-Wan being hurt or dead creates, using it to reach for what he can of the Force, and holding up his hand to direct it toward the control plate.

There's a shower of sparks from it before the door slides open smoothly, revealing another length of corridor that is just enough longer than the section he's in to accommodate a cross-corridor. Anakin looks at it a moment before he pushes away from the wall, and heads into it. He doesn't remember any of the corridors the Sith apprentice dragged him through being anything but straight from one end to the next, so this must be the far end from the way he was brought in.

Deeper in, than.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this does mean I have most of a draft for the next Obi-Wan chapter!


	4. Obi-Wan: Discovery

_Republic Date: 974:9:4  
Telos IV_

Eea pushes Kenobi to one side as they step into the meeting room, while her Master uses the Force to pull a man out of the chair at the head of the table, lifting him high in the air as he sits. She grins as the human hits the ground gasping for air, throat marked where he'd clawed at his own skin in a futile attempt to pry an invisible hand from his neck.

Shaking her head, she looks over the table, remembering who her Master had invited to meet them here, in a hall provided by the disconcerting human at the far end of the table. Eea wrinkles her nose at Omega, hoping there will be a chance to get rid of him soon, at least. Even sharks are more appealing than him.

There are a pair of humans nearest her that had the markings of the Bando Gora, though what use an organization that had fallen apart is, Eea isn't certain. Maybe the individuals are worth more than what they cannot actually bring to the table.

Dal Perhi, with two other Black Sun Vigos, and a handful of guards behind them. Eea bites her lip not to giggle, though she doesn't stop her gleeful smile at the thought of what happened last time her Master met with Black Sun. If they refuse to join them, whoever is the leader now will join Garyn in death.

"I didn't think you worked with the Jedi, my Lord." Omega is the first to speak, though he only barely looks at her Master, staring instead at Kenobi, though he can't know who is under the deep hood. "Unless you have some other reason to bring that sort of danger in here."

Her Master chuckles, and Eea's widens her grin a little more as she watches Omega.

_Show who he's glaring at, apprentice._

The rage and hate that flashes through Omega's expression when Eea yanks Kenobi's hood back is an echo for her own feelings, if untempered by her own glee or amusement at the situation Kenobi is in. She ignores the hiss from Kenobi, watching Omega and the blaster he pulls out to aim at Kenobi instead. The others are pulling weapons as well, some aiming them for Omega, others for Kenobi, or her, or her Master. Eea rests her hand on the hilt of one saber, waiting for a signal from her Master, or the pulling of a trigger.

"He's to remain alive, Omega." Her Master doesn't move from his seat, though Eea can feel his anger rising at the threat to himself and to her. Perhaps too, at the threat to Kenobi, but that is less distinct. "I'm not done with him yet."

Kenobi tenses beside her, and Eea reaches out to fist her free hand in the back of his robes, fingers curling around his belt through the cloak. Still watching Omega, as his glare flickers between her Master and Kenobi. Ignoring her entirely, and Eea tightens her grip on her saber, watching intently. It's impossible to tell what Omega will do before he does it.

She deflects the blaster bolt upward into the ceiling when Omega fires, shaking her head a little to knock her hood back as she grins fiercely. Daring him to try again, and this time she'll deflect the blaster bolt into his brain.

_He still serves a purpose, if not for too much longer. You can get rid of him then._

"I want Kenobi when you're done with him." Omega has returned his attention to her Master, though not all the others follow his lead. One of Perhi's guards is watching Eea with narrowed eyes, and both Bando Gora are turned more toward her, as if she's the greater threat.

"I'll consider it." Her Master keeps Omega's attention, focused on the human until Omega sits back down, the tension slowly settling in the room. Not leaving, but settling enough that blasters are returned to holsters, and those who'd stood up sit back down.

"What are we here for, Maul?" Perhi speaks now, leaning back in his seat and watching her Master intently, though his gaze flickers back to her and Kenobi briefly. "Other than taunting Omega with a Jedi?"

"I am willing to offer you a chance to join me now, to destroy our enemies and competition." Her Master needs the tools to take advantage of the growing chaos in the galaxy, and to add to it. They do well enough, but they are only two, and their plans need to spread a wider net than they can reach on their own.

* * *

_Republic Date: 974:9:13  
Telos_

Obi-Wan has been left with the apprentice while Maul tends to some project he will not disclose, in a palatial building that seems far more than the Sith need. Enough space they could lose track of him if he were allowed even a small amount of freedom, though so far, the apprentice has kept him close. It has given him the chance to watch her spar, and to try to annoy her into leaving him to his own entertainment.

"My Master wants you kept, so I will keep you." She dodges a blast from a training droid, to all appearances ignoring where Obi-Wan actually is along the wall of the large room. Once a ballroom, perhaps, but that only makes it ideal for lightsaber training. "If he decides he's done with you, I have my own plans."

"I do hope they're grander than rotting in a Telosian palace." Obi-Wan ducks when she redirects the next bolt toward him, chips of hot stone bouncing off the back of his neck. "You missed."

"No, I didn't." She shifts her stance slightly, slashing out to slice the hovering droid in half. "I owe you a lost arm. And a concussion."

"You already gave me a hangover." Obi-Wan curls one corner of his mouth up when she rolls her eyes. "And there is this." He gestures to the collar around his neck. "Cutting a Jedi off from the Force is akin to removing a limb."

"That is a temporary thing, not something as permanent as I have in mind." She deactivates her saber, hanging it off her belt before she stalks closer to him. Not close enough for an easy lunge to net him one of the weapons she carries - and why a Sith is carrying a blaster as well as lightsabers, he's not certain - but close enough for an easy conversation.

"I didn't think you or your master intended the inhibitor to be a temporary accessory." Obi-Wan smiles when the apprentice curls her lip. "Or was that more his plan than yours?"

She watches him for a long moment. "My plans aren't stopped by those of my master." She lifts her hand, fingers curling into a loose fist, and Obi-Wan can feel fingers at his throat, tight enough that he swallows against the pressure reflexively. "He never said you must be kept in one piece, only that you must live."

"I would imagine strangling me isn't among those actions your master would approve of." Obi-Wan shifts up on his toes when the apprentice lifts her hand.

"So long as you're still living when he returns, why should he care?" She lifts him a little higher, until his toes just touch the floor, holding him there for a moment before she shoves him back against the wall and lets him drop. "It's practice, after all. Just like sparring."

Obi-Wan lunges at her even though he knows she's out of reach without access to the Force, snarling as she shoves him back again with a laugh. Trying to push away the anger like he should, though it has nowhere to go.

"Trying to pretend you don't feel, like a good little Jedi, aren't you?" She tilts her head to one side, watching him with malicious curiosity brightening the amber glow of her eyes. "You can't, though. You're angry, just like everyone else. Angry and hurt and afraid. No better than any slum mouse huddled in the dark waiting for the sharks."

"I'm not a mouse." Obi-Wan pushes back up to his feet, his back against the wall, and shifts his balance to his toes. Waiting for an opportunity, and the apprentice snorts, giggling.

"Maybe not. But you're not any better than them. No better than any slum kid fighting to survive. Maybe a little worse off, because you think you're better, that you're special with your pretty robes and your hungry temple and your hollow minds. Dangling a shark's pretty trinket in front of a mouse to lure them out and eat them alive, and they never even see the rope around their throat."

Obi-Wan is tempted to ignore her words as jealousy wrapped up in the worst of the rumours about the Jedi, but there's something there he can't. Something that niggles at him, though he can't put his finger on it - maybe later, maybe if he has a chance to meditate, or at least as close as he can get to that state.

"Hungry temple?" He focuses instead on something that isn't him, a phrase he's not heard applied to the Temple - to the Jedi, in equally pejorative tones, usually about their taking children into the creche, certainly.

The apprentice lets out a huff of laughter, shaking her head with a curl of her lip that is less amused and more disdainful. "A hungry temple that would eat those who do not bow before it." She shakes her head, and reaches out to shove him with the Force, out of the room and down the hall to the room he's been closed into at night.

"Don't forget to bring me dinner!" Obi-Wan smiles at her as he backs into the room, rather than being shoved into it, and she rolls her eyes in return, the door slamming in his face.

At least he will have some time to himself to think.


	5. Anakin: Opportunity

_Republic Date 975:10:9  
11 months, 3 days into captivity_

There's a supply ship every two months, at least if the next one holds to the same schedule. The pilot doesn't even come off the ship, leaving droids to do the work of offloading the crates of what has turned out to be frozen soup, and a few other essentials that fit into a single crate on their own. Just enough to keep him alive, with no sign of anything to indicate the Sith actually intend to come back here.

Anakin drops down from the handstand as his arms begin to ache, trying to dredge up some of the anger he'd felt before, that had made it possible to get through the doors. He'd even managed to figure out how to not break them after the first couple, so the droid wouldn't be able to tell where he'd been. But he couldn't manage it right now - all he could feel was the numbing cold of the planet, and a sinking feeling that everything was too perfectly set for escape.

The Sith had made him look like an idiot on Brentaal, and he's not convinced she won't find a way to do so here.

"You're worrying too much."

Anakin doesn't even look over toward where he can hear Obi-Wan, trying instead to remember when he'd last slept.

"Three days ago. Is this really better than the nightmares?"

Snorting, Anakin rolls his eyes. "You yelling at me about not sleeping, or watching you burning Coruscant? I think I'll take you yelling. At least you're sane in my hallucinations."

"You're not going to escape if you don't sleep."

Which Anakin knows, but right now, he has a bigger problem between him and escape, and he doesn't think sleep will fix it. "I'm not going to escape if I can't figure out how to use the Force when I can't find any way to get at it, even the anger that worked before."

"Be careful with using the Dark Side. You're better than the Sith."

"Am I?" Anakin walks over to his bed, flopping down on it. At least at this point, if he sleeps, he shouldn't have nightmares. "I don't feel like it."

"You aren't planning to kill the pilot of the supply ship, or destroy the droid for doing its job, are you?"

"No." Anakin curls up on his side, pillowing his head on one arm. "Not unless they try to stop me leaving."

Obi-Wan doesn't answer, but Anakin can imagine the knowing smile on his face, and he's not surprised to feel fingers stroking his hair. If he had real access to the Force, he could call it Obi-Wan reaching through the bond they share, but it's only a hallucination. Just an imagined sensation that lulls him into a blessedly dreamless sleep.

He wakes up to a knock on the door, unsure how much time has passed since he fell asleep. Groaning, he rolls off the bed, rubbing his eyes as he goes to open the door. At least the droid has started knocking in the last couple of months.

"You missed dinner, Lord Skywalker." The droid holds another of the trays with a bowl of the soup that has become very nearly vile, though it at least keeps his strength up. "Are you well?"

"I was sleeping." Anakin takes the tray, and carrying it over to sit on the edge of the bed, ignoring the spoon in favor of drinking the soup directly from the bowl. The faster he eats it, the less he tastes it, and the more palatable it seems. At least for now.

Once the soup is gone, he reaches for the glass of water, holding onto it for a long moment. "Is it laundry day?"

"That's tomorrow, Lord Skywalker."

Anakin wrinkles his nose, but the droid's use of the title has stopped being really annoying months ago. There just isn't any point to being upset about that, and it never made him angry enough, even when he was first left here, to be useful for reaching the Force.

"Can I have something that isn't black?" He rests the tray on his lap, the glass now as empty as the bowl, and watches the droid. It's the same question every time, and the same answer. At least he's getting an answer.

_Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing and expecting a different result?_

Ignoring the inner voice as much as he tried to do with the hallucinations, Anakin keeps watching the droid. He doesn't _actually_ expect a different answer, he's just keeping up a ritual. A routine, because the droid is the only other being here, and he doesn't want to start talking to himself.

"There are no clothes available in other colors, Lord Skywalker."

If his old robes hadn't been incinerated - apparently on the Sith apprentice's orders - there would be, or if the supply ship brought in something different. He'd take anything over black at this point. Even something as crimson as a Sith's lightsaber. Or Intiate whites. The black makes him feel like the dark side is eating him alive.

And maybe it is. He can't reach the Force without the fear and anger that Master Yoda warned him against. Has barely managed to even use just fear for a while, since anger is so much more effective.

"I will require the tray back, Lord Skywalker."

"Yeah." Anakin sighs, and gets up, handing the tray back to the droid, watching it as it leaves down the corridor. Through the door he'd shorted out, and turning left in the junction beyond. Leaving him alone for another half-day to work on the next part of escaping.

He turns away, letting the door shut before he starts looking for things that make him angry enough to reach the Force. He has to get the stupid collar off.

* * *

_Republic Date 976:3:10  
14 months, 4 days into captivity_

The nightmare from sleeping before he's exhausted is enough to fuel the anger he needs to burn through the catch on the collar, and Anakin flings the thing across the room before he reaches out to the Force again, letting himself bask in it a long moment. He can see the path he needs to follow, can see what he needs to do to get out, and get back into the galaxy. From there...

He draws a breath, pulling as hard as he dares, and then heads for the door, pushing it open with the Force. Running, the corridors becoming a blur as he draws on power for speed. Blasting the doors ahead of him, reaching out with the Force to keep the landing bay doors shut, no matter what the droid or the pilot do.

The droid is in the bay when he arrives, a blaster in its hands, and Anakin shakes his head, diving for cover behind a stack of newly delivered crates. The first bolt hits the crates, and he closes his eyes, seeing the nightmare painted on the inside of his eyelids again.

Obi-Wan, a bloodied smile on his face as flames leap around him. Amber eyes that glow with power, and broken bodies around them, some of them with familiar faces. Anakin feels a surge of fury at that vision of the future, of the Sith having destroyed his Master and left nothing but a shell of evil in his place.

Standing, he whirls, one hand reaching out, and closing, the droid's torso deforming with a shriek of abused plasteel and circuit boards. It drops to the floor, and Anakin sprints for the ship, which is clearly starting to warm up to leave - and if the pilot is willing to come here, the pilot is probably also willing to blast the hanger open to leave.

It takes precious seconds to get the cargo bay hatch open, and inside, but Anakin slaps the controls once he is in, and moves toward the cockpit. All he needs to do is get the pilot out of the way, and he can escape cleanly, no witnesses left to tell the Sith where he might be going.

The blaster flies from the pilot's grip with a thought, after he deflects the first shot, and Anakin meets the terrified gaze of the male who is shrinking away from him.

"Please don't kill me."

"I'm not going to kill you." Anakin frowns, shaking his head, confused by the level of fear the pilot is showing. "I just need to borrow your ship." He pauses, biting his lip a moment. "I can leave you somewhere, as soon as I figure out where I am. A planet, not a station."

The pilot stares at him for a long moment, before swallowing. "The flight path that gets the ship out of this place is already programmed into the navicomp. I usually make the flight from Centares."

That... actually makes it easier, and Anakin smiles, though he stops when the man shrinks back more. He sighs, and wrinkles his nose, stepping as much out of the way as he can in the cramped cock-pit, tilting his head toward the back. Anakin doesn't even get words out before the pilot bolts past him, and vanishes past the hatch for the cargo bay, which shuts behind him.

Shaking his head, Anakin slides into the vacated seat, and sets the ship on the course laid out by the navicomp. Just simple sets of relative coordinates, taking him through a series of hyperspace jumps that eventually bring him to Felucia. The rest of it is easy enough to ignore, once he's there. He can reprogram things after that, and find a world to drop the pilot off on, and then...

Anakin sits back in the seat, a small frown on his face. He can't go back to Coruscant and the Jedi, not without Obi-Wan. He'll have to find somewhere to start from to look for his Master, after he leaves the pilot somewhere at least vaguely safe. Maybe Lianna, which is where the navicomp has the route going after Felucia.

He lets out a sigh again, and runs a hand through his hair - it's getting long, and he wants to cut it, but that can wait.

Activating the hyperdrive, he sits back again, watching the streaking light of hyperspace as he waits out the run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I am aware of the massive time differential between how fast the Anakin chapters are skipping merrily along and how fast the Obi-Wan chapters are not. Yet.


End file.
